Elon University announces its move to the Colonial Athletic Association in a news conference 5/23/13.

Elon, NC -- It's official. Elon University will join the Colonial Athletic Association for the 2014-15 academic year. The change in athletics conference affiliation was approved by the Elon Board of Trustees and announced Thursday afternoon.

In fall 2013, the CAA will have nine full members in eight states:
· College of Charleston (Charleston, S.C.)
· University of Delaware (Newark, Del.)
· Drexel University (Philadelphia)
· Hofstra University (Hempstead, N.Y.)
· James Madison University (Harrisonburg, Va.)
· Northeastern University (Boston)
· Towson University (Towson, Md.)
· University of North Carolina at Wilmington (Wilmington, N.C.)
· College of William & Mary (Williamsburg, Va.)

For football, four full CAA members are joined by seven football associate members:
Full members playing football
· University of Delaware (Newark, Del.)
· James Madison University (Harrisonburg, Va.)
· Towson University (Towson, Md.)
· College of William & Mary (Williamsburg, Va.)

Football associate members
· University of Albany (Albany, N.Y.)
· University of Maine (Orono, Maine)
· University of New Hampshire (Durham, N.H.)
· University of Rhode Island (Kingston, R.I.)
· University of Richmond (Richmond, Va.)
· Stony Brook University (Stony Brook, N.Y.)
· Villanova University (Villanova, Pa.)

The CAA was founded in 1979 as the ECAC South basketball league and was renamed the Colonial Athletic Association in 1985. The CAA began football competition in 2007. The CAA, which is headquartered in Richmond, Va., has a strong history of success:

Elon will continue to compete in the Southern Conference for the 2013-14 academic year, with the new women's lacrosse team holding its inaugural year of competition in the Atlantic Sun Conference before joining the CAA with other Elon sports in 2014. Blank said he looks forward to continuing Elon's close relationship with SoCon schools and to scheduling non-conference games with many of those schools in the future.

Timeline of Elon athletics conference affiliations

1912 - Representatives from Elon, the University of North Carolina, Trinity University (Duke), Wake Forest, North Carolina A&M (North Carolina State University) and Guilford College meet in Raleigh to form a basketball league.

1930 - Elon becomes a charter member of the North State Conference.

1961 - The North State Conference changes its name to the Carolinas Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (Carolinas Conference).

1975 - Elon's football team moves into the newly formed South Atlantic Conference (SAC-8).

1989 - Elon leaves the North State Conference to join the South Atlantic Conference, which has become an all-sports league.

1993 - The South Atlantic Conference moves from NAIA competition to the NCAA Division II level.

1997 - Elon begins the transition to NCAA Division I play and membership in the Big South Conference.

1999 - Elon becomes an official NCAA Division I member of the Big South Conference.